By Eugene Kiely, FactCheck.org Vice President Mike Pence touted the latest jobs report as proof that “manufacturing is roaring back.” The previous administration made a similar claim, but experts then and now said it’s premature to declare a manufacturing renaissance. The economy added 196,000 manufacturing jobs last year — the most in any year since 2014, when the economy added 208,000 manufacturing jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But the manufacturing sector has yet to fully recover from the Great Recession. As of December 2017, there were 12.5 million manufacturing jobs – 1.2 million fewer than there were in December 2007, when the recession started, BLS data show. At last year’s growth rate, it would take until nearly 2023 just to recover the jobs lost during the recession. Pence made his remarks in an interview with the conservative radio show host Dana Loesch. “Look at the jobs numbers that were just released last week — manufacturing is roaring back,” he said. The employment figures released on Jan. 5 showed an increase of 25,000 manufacturing jobs in December. That resulted, as we said, in a net gain for the year of 196,000 jobs. That was much better than in 2016, when the economy lost 16,000 manufacturing jobs. But it was not as good as 2011 or 2014, when the economy added a little more than 200,000 manufacturing jobs in each of those years. Pence’s declaration of a manufacturing comeback reminded us of when his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, boasted in 2012 that “manufacturing is back” after a few years of job growth. But, as we wrote at the time, the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation dismissed such talk as premature. Rob Atkinson, founder and president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, tells us it is still premature. Atkinson, co-author of a 2015 report called “The Myth of America’s Manufacturing Renaissance: The Real State of U.S. Manufacturing,” said that being 1.2 million short of the pre-recession jobs level is just one indication that manufacturing is not back. “Even more telling,” Atkinson told us, “the U.S. is producing less manufacturing output in the second quarter of 2017 than it did in the last quarter of 2007,” when the recession started. “Almost 10 years and NO growth in real...

By Bill Koenig, AdvancedManufacturing.org US manufacturing added 25,000 jobs in December, primarily in durable goods. Makers of durable goods boosted payrolls by 21,000 jobs, according to a breakdown by industry sector released today by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Jobs gains were widespread throughout durable goods. Major gainers included machinery (up 6000 jobs) and fabricated metal products (up 5400). The only durable goods category posting a job loss was furniture, down 700. The December results capped off a year that saw manufacturing employment expand by 196,000 jobs, of which 130,000 was in durable goods industries. Manufacturing lost 16,000 jobs in 2016, the bureau said in a statement. In 2015 and 2016, aerospace and the auto industry were the strongest job performers in manufacturing. During 2017, other industries picked up the pace of job generation. Manufacturing totaled 12.539 million jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis in December. That’s up from 12.514 million in November and 12.343 million in December 2016. Total Jobs Total non-farm employment increased by 148,000 jobs last month, the bureau said in the statement. That was less than the 190,000 median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The US unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.1%, the bureau said. Manufacturing jobs peaked in June 1979 (19.6 million on a seasonally adjusted basis, 19.7 million unadjusted). That sank to a low of 11.45 million adjusted and 11.34 million unadjusted in February 2010 following a severe recession caused by the 2008 financial crisis. Since that low, new manufacturing jobs have been created requiring increased skills because of increased automation and technology in...

Will Millennials Change Manufacturing? The largest generation in the U.S. is taking its place in manufacturing — and the experts are betting this tech-savvy cohort is ready to stir things up. By Steve Minter, Industry Week Dark, dirty and dangerous — mention the 3Ds of old-time manufacturing and HR managers shudder. It’s exactly the image they don’t want the public — or millennials considering careers in manufacturing — to have of the industry. They want to be able to talk about an industry that is attractive and safe, innovative, even cool. So it must gladden the hearts of Lockheed Martin recruiters when Emilee Bianco talks about being “excited” to work at Lockheed Martin Space System’s facility in Sunnyvale, Calif. Bianco, 25, has been working on building solar arrays to power satellites. As a manufacturing engineer, Bianco takes design specifications, puts them into work instructions and then works to ensure that satellite hardware is built correctly. Though she has been working just over a year for Lockheed Martin, she has already been part of a transition to a new type of solar array that uses thin, flexible sheets in place of rigid panels. The flexible arrays produce 50% more power but with 30% less mass. Bianco has also been part of automation efforts where robots are used to place solar cells on panels. Working with Lockheed on space technologies, she says, is “almost a guarantee” that you will be working on cutting-edge projects. Bianco’s generation now makes up the largest in the United States — 83.1 million, according the U.S. Census Bureau versus 75.4 million baby boomers. Not surprisingly, millennials also make up the largest share of the American workforce — one in three workers is a millennial, the Pew Research Center reports. As baby boomers leave the workforce and millennials make up a more significant part of it, many manufacturers believe that this generation will change manufacturing. “Millennials have already started changing the manufacturing and supply chains — and for the better,” says Kathie Karls-Bilski, HR director for 3M Supply Chain. For example, she says that supply chains are becoming more digitized and millennials will foster that change because of their facility with new tech....

“NAFTA renegotiation must be to strengthen US manufacturing competitiveness” By Steve Handschuh and Cody Lusk, The Hill Some might assume that, from an automotive industry perspective, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is a “Michigan automaker issue.” But in fact, the positive impacts of NAFTA in the automotive industry touch every state — and just about every neighborhood — in the U.S. Motor vehicle parts manufacturing facilities are located across the country and directly employ more than 871,000 Americans. Of course, many are in or near Michigan, but tens of thousands of motor vehicle parts manufacturing jobs are in states like Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama and Illinois. Nearly 32,000 motor vehicle parts manufacturing jobs are in California — and that number does not include the fast-growing automotive technology industry that has swept through Silicon Valley and beyond. Just think about automated and autonomous vehicles, smart cities and grid capabilities enabled by vehicle-to-infrastructure communications and vehicle-to-vehicle communications — these current and emerging technologies are motor vehicle parts revolutionizing how we use motor vehicles. NAFTA has made these innovations and job growth possible. Americans learn about and access these incredible technologies in new cars at their neighborhood auto dealership. Last year, 16,708 auto dealers operated in every corner of the United States, providing 1,131,900 well-paid American jobs ranging from supervisors to salespeople to technicians, all while selling a record 17.4 million light vehicles. That’s 2 million more vehicles than were sold the year before NAFTA went into effect. Dealers in all 50 states deliver an important service to their communities, offering a wide variety of competitively priced vehicles and developing strong relationships with their customers, an important factor in effectively executing safety recalls and ensuring that the vehicles on our roads are properly serviced. From parts manufacturers to community dealer showrooms, a free trade environment and an open supply chain have kept the cost of automobiles down while giving the consumer access to safety and other technologies that save lives, reduce emissions, ease traffic congestion and improve quality of life. That is why keeping NAFTA intact is so important and why we are part of the Driving American Jobs community of auto trade associations, manufacturers,...

“Ingersoll Rand Has Openings For MFG Jobs That Pay Over $100K. It’s Having A Hard Time Filling Them.” By Andrew Clark, National Association of Manufacturers One of the most daunting challenges facing U.S. manufacturing in the next decade is the “skills gap,” the lack of qualified, trained workers to fill new positions. One story out of North Carolina this week highlights just how pressing of an issue the skills gap can be. Manufacturing company Ingersoll Rand, whose product line includes including Club Car golf carts, Thermo King refrigerators and Trane air conditioners, employs about 2,000 local workers in Davidson, North Carolina. They also have nearly 1,000 open positions, some of which pay over $100,000. They’re having trouble finding people to fill them: The main cause of that is the so-called skills gap, CEO Michael Lamach said in a recent interview at the company’s headquarters. The term refers to a shortage of workers with the necessary technical skills to handle machinery, perform service on the equipment and use advanced technology, among other functions. It’s a perplexing thing, too, since the jobs are often high-paying, and usually don’t require a college degree, Lamach said. Commercial technicians at Ingersoll Rand, for instance, can make up to $105,000 without having attended a four-year university. “Most parents, I think, will coach their kids to go to college, and in doing so, are not thinking about some of the vocational areas,” he said. Ingersoll Rand’s story is yet another reminder of the uphill climb many manufacturers are experiencing as grow and seek out a skilled workforce. The National Association of Manufacturers has made closing the skills gap a top priority. Our Creators Wanted campaign, launched earlier this year, is a manufacturing-backed initiative to educate policy makers about the issues facing manufacturing, change public perceptions about the industry, share stories, and encourage students to consider careers in modern...